May 7, 2004
TALK ABOUT OPEN BORDERS:
Former Mexican-American farmer among NASA's astronaut candidates (AFP, May 06, 2004)
A Mexican-American who grew up picking cherries and apples in California with his migrant farmer parents is among 11 astronaut candidates, NASA said Thursday.Posted by Orrin Judd at May 7, 2004 7:56 AMJose Hernandez, 40, was selected among 99 people to be trained for three years by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
There are some other contributions of Mestizo-Americans outlined here...
http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=1156&wit_id=3323
Posted by: J.H. at May 7, 2004 8:48 AMI agree OJ that affirmative action mixed with open borders will result in space looking like America. (or something like that?)
Posted by: h-man at May 7, 2004 9:01 AMOh, good, we're starting our aggressive deportation campaign.
Posted by: David Cohen at May 7, 2004 9:33 AMThis is fascinating, but why is NASA selecting new astronauts? They already have plenty, and it looks to me as if the shuttle will never fly again. So why keep creating new ones?
Posted by: brian at May 7, 2004 12:56 PMWhat is the life expectancy for shuttle astronauts nowadays?
Posted by: Robert Duquette at May 7, 2004 5:03 PM"What is the life expectancy for shuttle astronauts nowadays?"
Infinite. Since there aren't any flights, that means that the denominator is zero.
(And if this selection is any indication, any astronaut who is worried about the odds if/when flights resume should get out because there are still lots of people willing to take that bet. But emphasis on astronaut survival is misplaced-- astronauts are replaceable at a reasonable price, but the shuttles aren't.)
A space shuttle costs about $ 2 billion to build, which would be more than enough money to develop a re-usable craft capable of winning the X-Prize.
There's no point in using Shuttles for low orbit missions; We should develop a fleet of specialized vehicles.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at May 8, 2004 4:32 AM